Former President Barack Obama said on Saturday that President Donald Trump has “become billions of dollars wealthier in office,” telling a rally in Detroit that “nobody disputes this” moments after pointing to Trump’s pardon of a banker whose family, according to a New York Times report, guaranteed Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba more than $50 million.
Obama did not name the banker. The Times reported on Oct. 20 that the family of Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan-Italian banker, hired Habba as general counsel of a Florida company under a deal that guaranteed her more than $50 million.
Justice Department clemency records list a pardon for Herrera dated Jan. 15. Habba has denied any role, writing in a post on X on Oct. 21: “I was never paid to secure a pardon.”
Obama made the remarks at a rally for Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the party’s nominee for governor. The speech was carried on a livestream Obama posted on X and by C-SPAN’s live coverage.
“The one thing that the current president is focused on other than home improvements is enriching himself and his family and his cronies,” Obama said, shortly after pausing for medics to attend to a member of the audience. “This is all documented. You can just look it up. I’m not making it up.”
He cited two recent cases. “We’ve got a U.S. ambassador shaking down a donor to pay off her credit card bills, $100,000,” Obama said. “We learned a Venezuelan billionaire wanted a pardon, so he paid one of Trump’s personal lawyers $50 million to be general counsel of a company nobody knows anything about, and lo and behold, the pardon falls out of the sky.” He went on: “This is a culture that’s set at the top. We have never seen a president excel in straight-up grifting on your dime like this. Never seen a president so intent on selling favors like this.”
“We have lost count of all the deals he and his family have done. You can’t keep up,” Obama continued, listing “meme coins” and “taxpayer-funded contracts for his kids’ companies.” He added: “As Abdul mentioned, the guy’s become billions of dollars wealthier in office. Nobody disputes this. Nobody denies it. It’s just, how do you do that when you’re supposed to be looking out for you?”
“And the worst part about it is not a single Republican in Congress has done anything to stop it,” Obama said, adding that Republicans on the ballot in Michigan had not either. “Most of them supported him every step of the way.”
The ambassador example matches a Wall Street Journal report on Oct. 7 that Kimberly Guilfoyle, now U.S. ambassador to Greece, asked a donor, Eric Deters, to wire $100,000 to her American Express account while preparing for her 2025 confirmation hearing. Deters later told CBS News he never sent her the money. Guilfoyle’s attorney disputed the authenticity of the messages, the Journal reported.
On Trump’s finances, Forbes estimated in September that Trump is worth $7 billion and is “an estimated $2.7 billion richer than when he won the 2024 election,” largely from crypto ventures and overseas deals, though it said his net worth slipped $300 million in 2026. Trump’s annual financial disclosure, released on June 30, showed $2.2 billion in income for 2025, including about $1.4 billion from crypto, ABC News reported. El-Sayed told the rally earlier that “Trump made another 2.2 billion dollars off the presidency,” a figure that matches the disclosure’s income total.
On contracts, ProPublica reported in May that White House adviser Peter Navarro initiated a $620 million Pentagon loan to Vulcan Elements, a company in which Donald Trump Jr.’s venture firm had taken a stake. A spokesperson for Trump Jr. told ProPublica he had no knowledge of how the deal came together, and the Pentagon said political connections play “absolutely no role” in its funding decisions.
Forbes reported in October 2025 that drone-parts maker Unusual Machines, which added Trump Jr. to its advisory board in November 2024, received at least $15.2 million in military-related orders, including a direct U.S. Army purchase; the company’s chief executive said Trump Jr. was not involved in discussions with potential clients.
The White House has rejected claims that Trump profits from his office. “Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged – or will ever engage – in conflicts of interest,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement after the June 30 disclosure, the BBC reported.
Asked earlier on Saturday about criticism from Obama and former President Bill Clinton, Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, that “Obama was a lousy president.” No response from the White House to the Detroit remarks themselves was found as of early Sunday.
El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, attacked the visit before the rally, writing in a post on X that “the Democratic Party establishment begged President Obama to come to Michigan to try to save Abdul’s campaign.”
Obama’s description of “straight-up grifting” is his characterization, and his examples need qualifiers. The Times reported that Habba was guaranteed more than $50 million, not that a $50 million payment bought a pardon, and Habba has denied any role; Deters said he never sent Guilfoyle the $100,000, and her alleged request came before she became ambassador.
Forbes’ estimate of a $2.7 billion gain supports “billions,” but it is an estimate, and the $2.2 billion El-Sayed cited is 2025 income reported on a disclosure, not a measure of profit from the presidency. The White House denies conflicts of interest, so “nobody disputes this” overstates the record. Of the contracts tied to Trump’s sons, the Vulcan deal ProPublica described was a loan, while Unusual Machines received military orders, which its chief executive said Trump Jr. had no role in. Obama offered no examples for his claim that no Republican in Congress has acted.